Tag: Anti-racism education

How to Have Antiracist Conversations with Dr. Manning

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By Sophia-Joelle McDowell
Art by Kelcie McKenney

As a Black Caribbean immigrant to the United States, Dr. Roxy Manning experienced racism early in life—both at school and out in the community. These experiences fueled her passion to tackle the topic of racism in her book, How to Have Antiracist Conversations: Embracing Our Full Humanity to Challenge White Supremacy. She also co-authored with Sarah Peyton the companion text, The Antiracist Heart: A Self-Compassion and Activism Handbook.

Roxy Manning, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist and certified Center for Nonviolent Communication (CNVC) trainer. 

She has worked closely with businesses, non-profits, and government organizations throughout the United States to help them make progress in equitable and diverse workplace cultures. Additionally, Dr. Manning has worked with people in many other countries focusing on social change. She even works as a psychologist in San Francisco, serving the houseless and disenfranchised mentally ill population.  

We spoke with Dr. Manning about the creation of this book and the possibilities of what it could mean to others. 

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White People: Let’s Stop Cherry-Picking MLK’s Words and Instead Listen to What We Need to Do for Change

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By Meg Pawley

If you take a look around the Twin Cities today, you might mistake it for the year 1967. As a reaction to the repeated, state-sanctioned execution of black men and women that continues in the US today, an uprising has begun. What began as peaceful protests in 1967 became bona fide race riots all over the country. When discussing the riots, Dr. King said:

“Riot is the language of the unheard, and what is it that has America failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of White society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice, equality, and humanity.”

Those words are still relevant today, as the peaceful protests in Minneapolis and Saint Paul have also ended in riots. Engagingly, in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, I have seen far more white people criticize the riots than the senseless act itself. Most of them accompany their (unwarranted) opinion with one quote or another from Dr. King that, taken wildly out of context, seems to only promote peace and love. 

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